Self-healing Circuits
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We have created electronic circuitry that is soft and stretchable and capable of spontaneously reforming electrical connections when the material is cut, torn, or punctured. It is made of microscopic droplets of liquid metal that are suspended in a soft silicone rubber.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Professor Developing Origami-Inspired Robots
Professor Cagdas Onal receives $500,000 grant for robots that combine soft and rigid properties;
Robots can help in disaster zones or assist those physically challenged with everyday tasks
This New Kind of Robot Mimics Octopus to Change From Rigid to Soft
If robots are capable of rapidly adjusting their dampness, stiffing and dynamics, like octopi are, the added flexibility can make for more versatile robotics than ever.
Rutgers Researchers Create a 3D-Printed Smart Gel That Walks Underwater, Moves Objects
The watery creation could lead to soft robots that mimic sea animals like the octopus, which can walk underwater and bump into things without damaging them.
Artificial Skin for Robots
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If a robot is dealing with electronics, it needs to know whether its hand is sliding along a wire or pulling on it. If the robot needs to hold a medical instrument, it needs to know if the object is slipping or in a firm grip.
Carnegie Mellon Research - Invisible, Stretchable Circuits
The mission of my lab is to discover new types of materials that will allow machines, robots, and electronics to be more compatible with our everyday environment.
Soft, Self-healing Devices Mimic Biological Muscles, Point to Next Generation of Human-like Robotics
The soft devices can perform a variety of tasks, including grasping delicate objects such as a raspberry and a raw egg, as well as lifting heavy objects. HASEL actuators exceed or match the strength, speed and efficiency of biological muscle.
New technique eases production, customization of soft robotics
Scott Schrage, University of Nebraska-Lincoln via Phys.org: The technique, which creates a stronger chemical bond between silicone and an unprecedented array of plastics, could greatly reduce the time, complexity and expense needed to produce the microfluidic devices.
Soft robot muscles with origami skeletons can lift 1,000 times their own weight
James Vincent for The Verge: Each muscle consists of a sealed bag filled with air or fluid, containing a folding origami structure that functions as the skeleton.
Engineers teach robots to understand emotion through touch
Duncan Geere for Tech Radar: Now researchers from Universit� Paris-Saclay are attempting to bestow the same benefits onto robots. Adriana Tapus and her colleagues are aiming to develop a humanoid robot that's sensitive to tactile stimulation in the same way people are.
Teaching Robots to 'Feel with Their Eyes'
Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science: Burka hopes to build up a database of one thousand surfaces to help coach robots on how to identify objects and also to know what they're made of and how best to handle them.
Meet the Robotics Wiz Behind Old Spice's Giant Mechanical Sea Creature
David Gianatasio for AdWeek: Unless you've been lost at sea, you've probably heard about the giant robotic squid that Old Spice deployed last weekend for a wacky, high-profile internet game on Twitch.
MIT Builds Invisible Fish Grabbing Robot
Matthew Humphries for PCMag: Catching a fish can be tough, even if you are just trying to net a goldfish in a small tank. That's because the fish spots the danger and makes a swim for it. But what if you didn't need a net because you're controlling an invisible grabbing robot?
That's what Xuanhe Zhao, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT succeeded in creating, but its applications go way beyond catching and releasing fish unharmed.
The robot is constructed of a transparent hydrogel, which is strong and durable but mostly made of water. As the video below explains, each arm of the robot is constructed from 3D-printed hollow cubes of hydrogel, which are then linked together. By injecting water using a syringe it's possible to make the arms curl and uncurl quickly in a grabbing motion. Cont'd...
Engineers Devise New Method to Heighten Senses of Soft Robot
Written by AZoRobotics: Most robots achieve grasping and tactile sensing through motorized means, which can be excessively bulky and rigid. A Cornell group has devised a way for a soft robot to feel its surroundings internally, in much the same way humans do.
A group led by Robert Shepherd, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and principal investigator of Organic Robotics Lab, has published a paper describing how stretchable optical waveguides act as curvature, elongation and force sensors in a soft robotic hand.
Doctoral student Huichan Zhao is lead author of “Optoelectronically Innervated Soft Prosthetic Hand via Stretchable Optical Waveguides,” which is featured in the debut edition of Science Robotics. The paper published Dec. 6; also contributing were doctoral students Kevin O’Brien and Shuo Li, both of Shepherd’s lab. Cont'd.. .
The First Autonomous, Entirely Soft Robot
From Leah Burrows and Harvard: A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3-D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics has demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft robot. This small, 3-D-printed robot — nicknamed the “octobot” — could pave the way for a new generation of such machines...
...Through our hybrid assembly approach, we were able to 3-D print each of the functional components required within the soft robot body, including the fuel storage, power, and actuation, in a rapid manner,” said Lewis. “The octobot is a simple embodiment designed to demonstrate our integrated design and additive fabrication strategy for embedding autonomous functionality.”... (full article)
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